Lucic gives Bruins a 1-0 lead by crashing the net

RALEIGH — 19:30: Right off the hop the Canes get a good chance with Eric Staal in tight off the opening faceoff that Tim Thomas immediately hopped on and deflected toward the back of the net. A quick icing for the B’s.

14:25: Good pad save by Thomas on a Joni Pitkanen blast from the high slot area. Then Tuomo Ruutu followed with a good bid from the middle slot area that Sergei Samsonov nearly got a stick on in front of Thomas. A good amount of traffic and chaos around Thomas early.

12:45: A big blast from Mark Stuart at the right point that appeared to hit some part of the net or post and then shoot right back out toward the blue line. Didn’t make any noise like it hit pipe, so wonder if they’ll take a look up in Toronto at that. Replays show that it hit Ward and then connected with the right post before bouncing back out.

11:17: The Bruins talked about being a bigger presence in front of the Carolina net, and there it was in living Black and Gold. Dennis Wideman shot the original bomb from the left point, which hit Lucic in front of the net and then dropped by his skates. Lucic corraled the puck and then hooked it around Cam Ward as he moved out from the net. First goal of this playoff run for Lucic.

9:50: Nice job by Shawn Thornton to turn a Carolina turnover into an odd man rush going the other way, but Ward blocked the Axelsson stuff attempt.

7:26: A great save by Thomas on Matt Cullen. First the Carolina winger barely missed on a redirect attempt from a Pitkanen shot, and then Thomas made an unbelievable stick save when Cullen attempted to sneak a puck past the diving goaltender. Steve Montador helped Thomas stop the puck and cover for the whistle.

3:32: Penalty for Andrew Ference on a hit from behind on Ryan Bayda, who was down on his knees on the ice for several minutes afterward. Two minutes for boarding.

They are, by the way, Wil Ferrel cowbell crazy down here apparently.

2:10: Near miss by the Canes PP when Erik Cole shoveled a puck toward the net by the left post, and the disc went airborne after striking bodies in front. Staal took a baseball hack at the puck in midair, but the hot shot missed wide of the net.

The Bruins are beating the Canes by a 1-0 score after one full period during Game 3 at the RBC Center in Raleigh, NC.